Microsoft promises core first-party games coming to PC
"I think it's fair to say that we've lost our way a bit in supporting Windows games," Microsoft Studios VP Phil Spencer admitted. "But we're back."
"I think it's fair to say that we've lost our way a bit in supporting Windows games," Microsoft Studios VP Phil Spencer admitted. "But we're back."
We may be at an event previewing Xbox One, but Spencer notes that PC is also an important part of their portfolio. While the company may have focused exclusively on console games in the past decade, that's going to change, he promised. "Windows is incredibly important. The 'One Microsoft' mantra that's come out had us looking at all the devices that Microsoft builds and truly becoming a first-party gaming studio across all devices."
I needed to press further. I wanted him to explicitly tell me that there are PC games coming from Microsoft first-party. And he complied. "You'll see us doing more stuff on Windows. We probably have more individual projects on Windows than we've had in ten years at Microsoft Studios."
Of course, it doesn't matter much to core gamers if Microsoft plans on simply releasing casual games on Windows. However, Spencer reassured me that the focus is definitely on the core. "At the launch of Windows 8, we had about 30 games in the Windows Store. A lot of those you'd consider lightweight or casual games... But we've covered all of that property now. Now we're starting to look at bigger and core gamer things. I'm excited by that."
There's already evidence that Microsoft isn't focusing exclusively on Xbox. In fact, many of One's games are also coming to PC, including Titanfall and Project Spark (pictured above). In the case of Spark, you'll be able to play and share content between Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows 8, and Surface. Having that kind of interoperability is crucial to improving the value of Xbox Live, Spencer points out. "Let's start to act like a true first-party across all these devices. A service like Xbox Live that knows me and my content and my friends and achievements across all these devices. I think that's an advantage for us."
Consumers no longer expect services to be stuck to one device, Spencer pointed out. "For us, we're first-party across all Microsoft devices. We definitely think about ourselves that way in our studios. If you think about a service like Spotify or Netflix, you expect that service to work on any device you have. For some games, it will be similar. I just want to have an Xbox Live account and it works on my phone, on my console, and my Windows machine. And then I'll be able to access my content in a screen-appropriate way."
In some ways, Microsoft is playing catch-up to Sony. In recent years, Cross-Play games have propagated content across PlayStation 3, Vita, and, now, PS4. But "One Microsoft" isn't willing to sit by and squander the incredible audience of Windows. For PC gamers, Microsoft's newfound commitment to PC games certainly is exciting.
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Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Microsoft promises core first-party games coming to PC.
"I think it's fair to say that we've lost our way a bit in supporting Windows games," Microsoft Studios VP Phil Spencer admitted. "But we're back."-
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It's not just that MS is looking at Valve, there's a ton more pressure on Windows as a gaming platform with the constant grow and near onslaught of mobile gaming. Yes, FPS and RTS aren't big on mobile. But, that's not to say developers won't crack that problem. So, MS has to keep up the evangelism for Windows as the go-to open platform gaming platform.
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Makes sense but if Valve can eventually steal PC gamers over to their OS, how huge of a hit is that going to be for MS? I can only speak for myself but the moment the Steam OS gains traction and most if not all future titles will be Steam OS compatible I'm completely done with Windows.
Gaming is the only reason I have stuck with Windows as long as I have. -
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The stakes are higher now. I think MS is probably more concerned with the Ouya style platform than Steam and gamers migrating to Linux. The low cost of those kinds of gaming platforms can have Wii-style disruption in the marketplace.
The other issue MS has is that developers have been perpetually stuck in DX9. The new consoles should finally push developers over that hurdle, but then that means games on Windows have to catch up, and not just the ports. I think MS needs to push DX11+ at the Inde level.-
^^^ totally this, as for "I think MS needs to push DX11+ at the Inde level." easy launch XNA5 that has DX11.2 support and works for Xbox One and Windows that would be beyond EPIC the crazy thing is they could easily do this if they wanted to.
MS has so much power and potential the question is what are they going to do with it?-
Part of MS's problem with that is that there has been too much of a hold out on XP, so enough people haven't been able to even load/run beyond DX9. Win 7/8 is probably at enough saturation to skirt that issue, but it may also mean that dev studios aren't just not comfortable to start developing games/tech to require that as a min spec. So then, we'd see those DX11 min spec games in about 2 more years. That's a LONG time at the pace these micro systems are coming out and developing. Gotta figure the next wave is just a few months away and will sport Tegra 4 or even 5 chips in them which will nip at DX11 capabilities if not equal (tegra 5).
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Massive point yet again and it is totally true ^^^. But and a big but and I do blame MS they could of solved this easily by actually focusing on the PC a just a little bit and just release a bunch of Xbox 360 first part titles for the PC and require that they need DX11 and even X64, that would of helped push the transition easily to a new DX11 OS.
Many PC gamers will get a new OS for killer IPs it has been proven and is money in your bank with interest.
Hmmm how many would of gone to Win7 or 8 if MS released the following:
Gears of Wars Complete Collateral Damage Edition:
GOW fans and PC crew rejoice a fully remastered complete series of Gears including 1, 2, 3, 4 graces the PC leveraging UE3.5, DX11, High rez textures and 64bit processing
Forza MAXIMUM:
For the first time PC crew get a taste of DX11 chromeage and 64bit acceleration of a remastered complete series of forza on the PC system. So real you can almost taste the tarmac
HALO from the Heavens Edition
A complete remastered DX11 high definition experience of the Master Chief that you love and have grown up with. Remastered in brilliant HD and PC exclusives that only the Game gods can provide. This insane combo includes Halo 1, 2, 3, 4, OSD
Crimson Skies...
Fable...
New IP... gasp heaven forbid
Ms could of easily pulled this off :( and it hurts thinking about it. The old saying if they build it they will come, would of been very true.
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You'd also have the problem of the Xbox Cloud, which apparently plays a pretty big role in the game. You'd have to redesign the game and make sure that Sony had some sort of comparable offering. Or pay what is surely a lot of money to have Microsofts cloud support a PS4 game. It's possible that it wasn't so much a private deal as EA not wanting to front the cash for comparatively little returns (since the number of console owners is small the first year, comparatively).
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It sounds like its just used for dedicated servers. And their cloud technology is likely their own server code, and they just slap it on the Azure instances to run. I'm just speculating but from what I've been reading in their interviews this is likely the case. It would cost money for sure to use it on PS4, but likely not all that much different from EA paying for their own dedicated servers for their sports titles.
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Titanfall isn't first party, nor is it even published by MS so I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. MS makes this same bullshit promise every couple years and it's never true, and right now it's more unbelievable than ever because it would be illogical to give people less reason to buy an Xbox One given how console-wary things are right now.
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Microsoft if you were serious about releasing core PC games again you can start with reviving the PC franchises that were killed because they couldn't easily be retooled for the Xbox. I am talking about series like Flight Simulator, Rise of Nations, Age of Empires, and so on. Those free to play games you released a year two ago doesn't count. If you were serious you would have focused on releasing games on both the xbox and the PC at the same time and work on solving the cross-platform multiplayer issues.
It seems like every year other year microsoft makes these claims and have nothing to show for it.
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